The Peoples Warehouse

The Peoples Warehouse. . "The People's Warehouse" was known as Pendleton's Greatest Department Store in its heyday at the turn of the century. The People's Warehouse Store began operation in the building located on the Northwest corner of Main and Court. By 1915 the store had moved to this building. It was originally a single story structure, but after a major fire nearly gutted the store in 1915, it was remodeled and enlarged. This brick edifice had been covered over by layers of modernization over the years. In 2006-2007, a massive reconstruction was completed to return the Main Street façade back to its original look using old photographs as reference. Layers of brick were removed to expose the original design, and then it was painstakingly rebuilt and restored. , This entire block had been given to Umatilla County by Moses and Aura Goodwin as the site of the original County Courthouse. The wooden courthouse stood in the center of this 2 1/2 acre block when it was constructed in 1869, and the town well was located in the courthouse yard. In 1878, a diphtheria outbreak in town was blamed on that well. By 1888, the county had outgrown the modest wooden structure and began construction of a new courthouse in the block that the Goodwin's had donated for use as a college (the block between SE 4th and 5th and Court and Dorion Avenues). The county sold off building lots and the old courthouse building to help pay for the new courthouse.